Happy New Year! I hope you all have your goals for the years and I hope you will achieve them. Now on to clarify stuff from reviews. First off, Artanis wouldn't destroy the magic council because it would be detrimental to the Protoss if he did so despite whatever slime ball move the council will do due to it be affecting public opinion of Protoss. So, no matter what they do, Artanis will have to deal with it or find a way to reform it. Secondly, Kerrigan won't help the Protoss. I may include her but I'm planning not to. Now on to the story.
Chapter 10: Hybrid and time travelers
Grand Magic Games coliseum
Crocus
The final match of the Grand Magic games was entering the final stages as most of the contestants and teams have been eliminated. The only ones that remain are Fairy Tail, Lamia Scale, and Sabretooth remained. Everyone was cheering and screaming in support for their favorite team. The same was said for the Fairy Tail guild who were cheering for their team with all they can. So far, besides one slip up, the strategy constructed by the first master of Fairy Tail has proven to be effective as it caused Fairy Tail to be neck and neck with Sabretooth for first place. Though they were all battered from intense fighting, team Fairy Tail were still ready to fight for their guild no matter how bruised or damaged they will become. While the teams were competing against each other Mavis Vermillion, the first master of Fairy Tail, asked a question to Makarov, the current master of Fairy Tail, that has been bothering her for some time.
"Do you trust our new allies?" Asked Mavis. Makarov, who was busy, cheering for his team looked at her.
"I'm sorry. I didn't quite hear you first master." Said Makarov.
"I said do you trust our new allies, third master." Said Mavis, looking at him. "Do you trust the beings that volunteered to help us save one of our members?" Asked Mavis, seriously. When she heard about these beings from the Fairy Tail members, she was shocked as she never heard about them and was immediately suspicious when they just gave them their assistance with no sort of reward latter for them. Makarov sighed at her question before growing serious.
"To be honest first master, I don't." Said Makarov. "As much as I want to believe that they are doing this out of the kindness in their hearts, I believe they have an ulterior motive for helping us." Said Makarov. "But right now, one of my children are in danger and I wish to save her. So for now, I will trust them."
"I see." Said Mavis. "If I can help ease your suspicion, I believe that one of them truly wants to help us while the other doesn't." Said Mavis. Seeing that Makarov was looking at her, she continued. "I believe that your children said that there were multiple types of them. Correct?" Asked Mavis. Makarov then nodded. "And that there are two leaders." Makarov nodded again. "Well I believe that, with the information we have so far about them, that we can put faith in Artanis." Said Mavis with a smile. "With what you told me of him, he seems to be a trustworthy person."
"And what of Alarak?" Asked Makarov. Since first seeing the high lord, Makarov instantly was on guard and later disliked him. For the short time the two interacted, Alarak constantly insulted or mocked Makarov for his ideals and even insulted his parenting skills with how Ivan went. It took all the will power he had to not attack the high lord, especially when he insulted his children or attack his grandson. Not only that, but the darkness that emitted from Alarak worried him. It was as strong as or stronger than master Precht when he turned evil. It was as almost as if Alarak thrived in killing and murder. Mavis instantly frowned at the mention of the high lord. To be honest, she had no idea on what to think of the high lord. With the information she had on him, Alarak seemed to be the type of person that enjoys killing and the violence of battle. He had no morals, no care to those under his commands, and no care to the innocent. It made her wonder why he and Artanis are working together. Perhaps Alarak is not as evil as he seems?
"I have no idea what to think of Alarak." Said Mavis, seriously. "For now, let us observe him some more and decide the best course of action with him." Makarov reluctantly nodded and began to watch the tournament again, wondering of how the rescue team was doing. He hoped that they were doing well.
Royal Palace
The rescue team was not doing very well. One moment, the Lucy from the future was leading them to an entrance out of the palace and the next royal soldiers suddenly arrived and started to attack them. To make matters worse, colonel Arcadios was gone and so was Yukino. Mirajane then left the team to find them, leaving everyone else to fight the royal army. As he was fighting, Artanis was surprised with how poorly equipped and trained the royal army soldiers were. Being armed with simple armor and spears made them no threat to the Protoss or the Fairy Tail wizards so they were all being taken down rather easily despite having some of their ranks using magic and having superior numbers on their side. This was both a boon and curse to Artanis as while this made them rather easy to take down it also meant that they will stand no chance against the dragons, meaning that he had to make contact with the fleet soon or many will die. Which was going to be a problem because more and more reinforcements were coming and they didn't have the time for this. The situation got even worse when the hungry wolf knights joined the fight. Artanis was currently fighting Cosmos yet again while Alarak was fighting Kamika with Lucy and her spirits, both were reluctant to fight against or fight with him respectively.
"Why do you fight against us again!?" Yelled Artanis as he swung his psi-blades at Cosmos, who dodged the blades and countered by sending her plants against him.
"Simple. It's my job to execute law breakers." Said Cosmos as she launched spores against him but became frustrated when the spores did nothing to Artanis because of his powerful shields. "Not only did you break the kingdom's laws but you're attacking its soldiers as well." Explained Cosmos.
"We only do so because your soldiers attack us first." Said Artanis as he began to dodge Cosmos's attacks. "Please, I beg of you to allow us to escape. There is a calamity coming soon that must be prevented. If you do not allow us to leave, you will be condemning the kingdom's people to death! Do you wish to have that on you conscious!?" Demanded Artanis, making Cosmos hesitate. She began to wonder if Artanis was speaking the truth. The princess said that he and Alarak had to be eliminated in order to prevent something terrible from happening to the kingdom but that was it. She never said a reason why they had to be eliminated, which was fine for her and her team. They were simply soldiers of the kingdom that obey its orders, no matter how morally questionable those orders are. But she couldn't help but wonder why she ordered the death of Alarak and Artanis. From what she's seen from Artanis, he was a strong, respectable, and moral person. Not the type to commit crimes. He was apparently merciful as well since he saved her from certain death though she got a lot of concerned and questions from her teammates on why she was bloody all over and was fine physically. All this made her question the validity of her orders and why the princess was acting so ruthless. She was a rather kind and smart person that cared for her people. Maybe she thought that the Protoss were dangerous beings that couldn't be trusted? Maybe Cosmos didn't really knew Artanis at all and he was simply acting? All this made her open to attack but instead of getting hit, Cosmos felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked at the person responsible and saw the celestial spirit that was with the law breakers, smiling at her.
"Your names Cosmos, right?" Asked the spirit, nonchalantly. "You know, I'm more a lover than a fighter. Why don't you and I ditch this fight and go somewhere nice." Offered the spirit. Cosmos glared at the spirit before attacking him with a plant, making him go away from her. If there was one type of men Cosmos disliked, it was the flirty type. She then ignored the spirit, who recovered from the attack, and focused on Artanis, who looked annoyed at his comrade for flirting on the battlefield. The two then proceeded to fight each other again but with more hesitation on Cosmos's part. Kamika, on the other hand, was scared. More scared than when she fought Mirajane. This was because Alarak had this aura that honestly scared her more than Mirajane. And he fought with such ferocity, speed, and skill that she had never seen before in her life. Her attacks were ineffective as he either dodged or took the damage, allowing his shield to take the damage. His attacks, however, seemed to be more aimed to incapacitate than kill but there was a reluctance in them. Like he was annoyed that he had to hold back and not kill anyone. This made her wonder why. He seemed to be the type to kill his opponents and relish in it, just like her. It made her wonder what was causing him to hold back. Nevertheless, she was grateful in him holding back because she was grimly certain that he would kill her with ease if he tried. The fighting continued for hours, much to Artanis's chagrin.
"This is taking too long!" Yelled out Artanis as he deflected an attack from Cosmos. "We must finish this now or escape!"
"And how do we do that!?" Asked Lucy as she dodged an attack from Kamika. "They got us surrounded!" Artanis had to agree. There was no way that the Terrans can possibly leave. The royal army had them completely surrounded. He and Alarak can escape with their blink abilities or cloak themselves but he didn't want to abandon the Fairy Tail mages. Right now, the only way to end this quickly is by convincing the royal army to stand down. He was about to use his psionics in a grand spectacle to get everyone's attention when he saw shadows coming from the end of the hall. It confused him as they were slowly coming closer to them. He sensed a dark presence from them that put him on guard. The shadows then soon encroached on the executioners, the royal army, Alarak, and Artanis. Everyone then stopped fighting when they all saw the shadows. The shadows then began to drag everyone except for the members of Fairy Tail into them. The royal army began to panic as they tried to escape. The executioners tried as well but kept their cool, albeit barely. Artanis and Alarak, completely calm, simply used their psionics to rid of the shadows. Now safe, Artanis looked as the royal army and executioners were being engulfed in shadows. Knowing something had to be done and that they needed everyone they can get for the upcoming calamity, Artanis grabbed the leader of the executioners and pulled him out of the shadows grasp, saving him and Cosmos and Kamika as the leader tried to save his comrades. Alarak, upon seeing this, rolled his eyes and roughly grabbed the last two executioners, pulling them out of the shadows. The shadows then began to act aggressively before suddenly stopping and receding back to the end of the hall way. While everyone was in shock at what the Protoss leaders had done, the two were in thought at what just happened.
"Did you sense the darkness from those shadows, Alarak?" Asked Artanis. The high lord simply nodded as he looked at the darkened hallway. He was intrigued by these shadows and wondered who created them. He would soon get his answer as they all heard footsteps coming from the darkened hallway. A figure came out and it was a shock to everyone as the person looked like Rogue from Sabretooth except his hair was longer and in a ponytail. His hair was also different in that it was white on the left and black on the right. His black hair was covering all the right side of his face, obscuring it from their view. Artanis was on guard because he came out of the shadows that tried to swallow him, Alarak, and the executioners before.
"It seemed we meet again, Natsu Dragneel." Said the Rogue look-alike. "I'm Rogue. Or rather the one from the future." The Fairy Tail wizards gasped at this. Artanis and Alarak, however, weren't so surprised because they sensed that this was the same Rogue as the one from Sabretooth. Yet that was all they can sense. It seemed as if this Rogue went through some great mental training to block them. This made Artanis suspicious but he decided not to delve into this Rogue's mind. Rather he focused on the hungry wolf knights, particular Cosmos, as they were regaining their bearings from their experience.
"Are you alright?" Asked Artanis as he kneeled at Cosmos. The Terran woman then looked at the hierarch before nodding.
"Why did you save us?" Asked Cosmos as she looked at his eyes. "We tried to kill you yet you saved us. Why?" Artanis simply stood there before replying.
"Because I do not want to be enemies of the kingdom you serve. Not only that, but this is a whole misunderstanding. I will explain later but please understand that what we are doing is for the kingdom." Said Artanis, honestly. Cosmos looked at his eyes to see if there was any deception in them. While doing so, she noticed how pretty his glowing eyes were. She blushed a bit before turning away. She then looked to her teammates looking at the conversation between the Fairy Tail mages and the future Rogue except for Kamika as she looked at Alarak who was bored and was looking at his physical blades. She was about to tease Kamika when she heard someone yell out. She looked at the commotion and saw the one in the cloak that was with the Fairy Tail mages fall to the ground with blood flowing from a wound. She looked around and saw the one that came from the shadow was in a position as if he did it.
"What happened?" Asked Cosmos.
"The Rogue from the future killed the Lucy from the future when she took a blow for the present Lucy." Stated Alarak as if was the most obvious thing in the world. He saw the whole thing and was curious why. The Rogue from the future seemed to act as if it was the only way to save the future because he stated that Lucy would prevent the eclipse gate, which apparently can double as a weapon, from opening thus allowing the dragons to kill off humanity but Alarak knew that this future Lucy would not do such a thing. She was far too kind and naïve to do such a thing. He then put some more effort into reading Rogue's mind than he did previously and found out a lot of interesting things that made Alarak excited. "Now there is something to do." Thought Alarak. As the Fairy Tail mages were demanding to know why Rogue did such a thing, Alarak decided to tell what he just discovered. "It's because he wanted her to die." Said Alarak gaining everyone's attention. "He came here to prevent her from warning us." Said Alarak, surprising everyone except Rogue who looked a bit anger but calm as if he expected this. "He plans to allow the dragons to come here through the eclipse gate." Explained Alarak, shocking everyone. "The gate is not a weapon. It is merely something to manipulate time and space, and he plans to use it to bring forth dragons when they were alive but to do this he needed to manipulate the princess to open the gate. So he came back from the future to do so but when he heard that another time traveler came from the future, he knew that time traveler would warn everyone about the upcoming doom so he looked for them to eliminate them. Isn't that right, Terran?" Asked Alarak. The future Rogue simply smirked.
"Correct. I thought that the mental training I gained would be enough to shield myself from your mind reading but it appears I was wrong." Said Rogue. "It doesn't matter that you all know, the eclipse gate would soon open and the dragons will soon be upon us. But to keep you all busy until that happens I'll have to rely on my allies." Said Rogue. With that he disappeared in the shadows and the shadows began to dissipate. As soon as they all disappeared, Artanis looked at the Fairy Tail mages. They were all shocked and angry with what they all just learned. Natsu was the most affected. He was shaking in anger and was clenching his fists.
"I understand your anger, Fairy Tail." Said Artanis. "But right now, we need to stop the eclipse gate from opening. It's what she would have wanted." Said Artanis, pointing to the Future Lucy who was being held by her present self. After a few minutes of grieving, they all turned to look at him with determination in their eyes. They all then nodded in agreement. They had to stop the eclipse gate from opening. Seeing this, Artanis got up and extended out his hand to Cosmos. "I ask of you all to join us." Said Artanis to the hungry wolf knights. "I know that your orders were to kill us but it is also your duty to protect the kingdom. I implore you all to forget your mission with us and help us save the kingdom from a disaster." Asked Artanis. The hungry wolf knights looked at each other, hesitant to agree with Artanis until the leader stood up. Artanis looked at him and the two had a stare down until the leader extended his hand.
"Just this once." Said the leader. This may go against his orders but if what he heard is true then, no matter how ludicrous the idea was, they had to stop the kingdom from being destroyed by dragons. "But for now, you have the support of the hungry wolf knights." Artanis then grabbed the leaders hand before shaking it. The other hungry wolf knights then got up and looked ready for battle.
"Good. Now we have to find the princess and stop her from activating the gate." Said Artanis. Everyone was about to leave when they heard growls. They all looked around to find where it was coming from when suddenly, in a flash of darkness, three large and imposing figure were in front of them. They were massive and had a thin face, an expansive carapace headpiece, segmented plates over spindly limbs, and massive black claws. It had two pairs of arms and two pairs of tentacles behind its back. It was purple in color and glowing eyes and veins. It was something that was all too familiar to the Protoss.
"Hybrid!" Yelled out Artanis as he ignited his psi-blades.
"Oh-ho this is exciting." Said Alarak as he did the same with his bane-blades.
"S-so t-those things are hybrid?" Asked Happy in fright. He imagined them to be scary but he never thought that scary. The three hybrid then growled and Happy got behind Lucy in fright.
"Looks that way and it looks like their with Rogue." Said Natsu as he ignited his fist. He then charged at the hybrid. "You're all not getting in my way!" Yelled out Natsu as he planned to plant his first firmly in the nearest hybrid. The attack landed but only managed to annoy the hybrid. It scoffed at Natsu's attempt and grabbed him with one of its arm. It then threw him to Lucy, causing them to crash into each other. The other two hybrid then ran up to the group with their arms wide open, intending to rip them to pieces. Everyone then got out of their way but just barely. Kamika launched a yellow dance against them but only grazed them.
"How do we beat these monsters!?" Asked Kamika.
"We must work together to defeat them!" Yelled out Artanis. He then blinked toward one and slashed one of its arms off. It roared in pain before trying to catch the hierarch who was blinking out of the way. While it was distracted Lily in his battle form slashed at one of its other arms with all his strength, causing it to fall off. The hybrid was angry now and then slammed its arms to the ground, causing everyone to lose their balance. The other hybrids then rushed up to Wendy, who looked up in time to see them about to slash at her. She screamed in fright before several plants attacked the hybrids, pushing them away a bit. Wendy was soon grabbed by a plant and was brought to Cosmos.
"Sorry, but I can't let such a cute face be harmed by such vile beasts." Said Cosmos. Wendy looked at Cosmos in shock as Cosmos was trying to kill them just a few minutes ago but now she was protecting them. She pushed the shock away and got up. "Want to team up, cutie?" Asked Cosmos. Wendy nodded and the two launched their attacks at one of the hybrid, catching its attention. It then charged at them but was interrupted by an attack from Natsu, who put more power in his attack causing the hybrid to crash into the floor. The last hybrid then roared and teleported next to Loke. It then grabbed him and ripped him in half before Lucy's eyes. Fortunately, since Loke was a spirit, he didn't die and simply returned to the spirit world. It then turned its attention to Lucy, who was in shock at seeing her spirit be defeated in such a way, and raised its arms up to slash at her. Alarak and Kamika then launched their attacks at the hybrid before it could do so.
"No way, am I allowing my allies to be killed if I can have a say in the matter even if I tried to kill them earlier." Said Kamika.
"I merely helped because I wanted to fight and kill something." Said Alarak, not caring about Lucy. He then turned to Kamika. "Since your friend is helping with Artanis, I assume you want to team up with me as well?" Asked Alarak. Kamika looked at him before nodded. She was curious on fighting with him. Kamika then launched a purple dance at the hybrid they attack earlier, immobilizing it. Alarak soon followed up with a Deadly charge at the hybrid, hurting it. The hybrid then managed to lose itself of the papers before teleporting to Kamika. She then summoned a paper shield to defend her from the upcoming slashes but the paper was shredded from the first attack and she barely managed to dodge the next attack and get away in time as the claws managed to slash at the sash that held her dress rope together. The sash fell off and allowed it to open slightly. She blushed in embarrassment before grabbing her dress rope and tried to hold it together with one hand. Alarak then did a deadly charge and pushed the hybrid away from Kamika. He looked at her as she held the upper and lower portion of her dress to prevent people from seeing her chest and nether regions. He raised an eyebrow before chuckling. "Perhaps you should consider wearing something that is not so easy to destroy. After all, it would damage your pride if someone saw your glands and the part for reproducing purposes." Said Alarak. She blushed more at what he said and looked to see him grab her cut sash. He then threw it to her. "Tie it after the battle is won." Said Alarak as he charged at the hybrid he attacked with Uosuke and Neppa. They continued to fight it for several minutes until Uosuke managed to immobilize the hybrid down with his magic while Neppa hit it his acid coated fist, causing parts of it to dissolve. Alarak then finished it off with by digging his bane blades deep into it's head. It then roared as it began to disintegrate.
"Wow! Talk about some way to go!" Said Uosuke, amazed at the impressive death.
"Too bad that no one will believe us when we tell them that about it." Said Neppa.
"Not to worry. There are plenty more where that came from." Said Alarak, amused at the banter. He then looked as Artanis, Lily, and the leader of the hungry wolf knights finish off their hybrid while Lucy, Wendy, Cosmos, and Natsu finished off the other. Everyone looked exhausted from the fight except for Kamika, Alarak, and Artanis due to Kamika being absent from most of the fight while Artanis and Alarak were used to fighting hybrid.
"Is everyone alright?" Asked Artanis. Everyone nodded. That was one of the most intense fights they have ever faced.
"Yeah, but I kinda like a break." Said Uosuke. The fight took most of his remaining magic power as well as everyone else's.
"We can't, I'm afraid." Said Artanis. "We must prevent the princess from opening the gate." Everyone then nodded. They all then began to run except for Alarak and Kamika. He looked to see Kamika trying to tie her sash back together but was struggling to do so. He rolled his eyes before grabbing the sash and began to tie it. She blushed in embarrassment as Alarak was tying it in its original position…under her chest. She would have slaughtered any men that tried to do so but she wasn't stupid enough to do so against Alarak as she was too weak to face him. Plus, she had the feeling Alarak didn't care for breasts as most men she met. He was quickly down and managed to tie it so that her dress rope wouldn't open up. He looked down at her stared at her. She looked at him with a bit of fright before he replied.
"Next time, dress up in something more appropriate for combat." Said Alarak as he left to find the group. She then followed him, eager to forget what happened between the two. Meanwhile, Karax was trying to fix the communication systems in the Spear of Adun so they can contact Artanis. They needed to send a message to the hierarch and Alarak about the danger they are in as well as sending reinforcements to them. So far, they managed to restore power to several non-essential systems and some of the ships in the fleet have been partially restored. He was close to fixing the communication systems when Talandar came and informed him that he may have a solution.
"What is it, Talandar?" Asked Karax as he worked.
"I think if we have several energizers transfer their power to the communication systems, we can temporarily send a message to the hierarch." Said Talandar. Karax stopped to think. There was nothing wrong with trying and everything with the communication systems were fixed. They just needed power. He then allowed the plan to go into motion and soon several energizers arrived. They soon began to transfer their power to a nearby communication station and sure enough it began to activate. Karax then began to send a try and establish a connection toward the hierarch with the device that was with Artanis. Sure enough a connection was made and the face of Artanis appeared with several of the native Terrans with him.
"Hierarch! Thank Adun, that you are safe!" Said Karax. "I regret to inform you that we detected hybrid in the region." Said Karax.
"I know Karax. We recently encountered some. It took some time but we managed to defeat them." Said Artanis. "Listen Karax, I need you to send reinforcements to our location. Alarak had just informed me that allies of Amon are here in Earthland. Not only that, but there will soon be an invasion of dragons as well."
"I wish we can do so, Hierarch but right now we are unable to do so." Said Karax, surprising Artanis. "Terrans had managed to disable most of our vessels and the remaining vessels are working on helping the disabled vessels. We have nothing to send you right now."
"But Karax, I need reinforcements now." Said Artanis.
"I understand Hierarch. We'll do what we can. For now, I can't send any vessels." Said Karax.
"*Sighs* Very well. We will try and hold out." Said Artanis. Karax then nodded and cut the connection and began to work on trying to fix the hanger bays and teleportation systems so they can send reinforcements to Artanis with Talandar following, eager to help out in any way he can. As soon as the connection was over, Artanis looked to see everyone looking at him.
"What was that?" Asked Wendy, asking the question everyone was wondering as well. Artanis sighed before walking and urging them to follow him. With them following, he began to tell them the whole truth about his people. Meanwhile, Jellal, Meredy, and Ultear were panting from exhaustion. They were on their way to the place when Jellal realized there was another time traveler from the future other than Lucy when suddenly they were attacked by a figure dressed in a cloak that concealed their body. To their surprise, the figure held them all off and wasn't even trying to fight.
"Now that I have your attention, I need your help." Said the figure, who then proceeded to remove their hood and revealed themselves. All three looked in shock at who the figure was. "And please no questions about me. Right now, I need your help to save the present and future. If you don't heed my instructions, everyone will die." Said the figure. Seeing that the figure had their attention, the figure began to talk.
Who was that mysterious figure? Is he or she a friend or foe? No one knows. Now this is getting dicey for the good guys. Will they all survive? Probably not. Also I spared the Hungry Wolf Knights from their fate from Rogue because I rather find them interesting and I wanted to do something with them. They deserve more stories with them in it. Anyway, Read, Rate, and Review.